Polk County Itemizer-Observer • April 29, 2015 3A
Polk County News
No fix near for Hwy
99W, Clow Corner
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CORRECTIONS
In “Indy Police earns accre-
diation from OAA” on April 22
Page 2A, the Dallas Police De-
partment has not been ac-
credited with OAA, but was
involved in the program. Also,
61 agencies are involved in
the OAA, but only 39 are ac-
credited with the agency. The
I-O regrets the confusion.
The Polk County Itemizer-
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WEATHER
RECORDED
HIGH LOW
April 21............. 65
April 22............. 61
April 23............. 55
April 24............. 56
April 25............. 60
April 26............. 60
April 27............. 80
43
38
35
45
41
40
47
RAIN
.04
.00
.03
.24
.02
T
.00
Rainfall during April — 2.08 in.
Rain through April 27 — 13.86 in.
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
EMILY MENTZER/ Itemizer-Observer file
An especially warm winter and spring means more vegetables — and even some
berries — at Tuesday’s Polk County Bounty Market Monmouth.
Festivities to fill park
Monmouth market kicks off Tuesday on Main
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — On
Tuesday, Main Street Park in
Monmouth will come alive
with the Polk County Bounty
Market.
Last year, the market per-
formed better than expected
for a first-year affair, said
Chelsea Metcalfe, executive
director of the Dallas Area
Chamber of Commerce and
Dallas Area Visitor Center,
organizers of the market.
“We averaged seven ven-
dors per week,” Metcalfe
said. “Our goal was five, with
our highest at 11.”
The Monmouth Bounty
Market kicks off on Cinco de
Mayo, and vendors are look-
ing forward to the event,
Metcalfe said.
Western Oregon Universi-
ty jazz students will provide
the musical entertainment
on the day, said program
manager Bonnie Dreier.
The city will continue to
have a booth there every
week, where the public will
have easy access to informa-
tion ranging from public
works to the senior center to
asking City Manager Scott
McClure questions, Dreier
added.
New this year, Polk Coun-
ty Community and Healthy
Families will have a booth
for information, also.
“They do all the preventa-
tive (health) things for Polk
County,” Dreier said.
Because the season has
been so warm, market-goers
will find things not usually
found until the third or even
sixth week of the market, she
noted.
“We have produce that we
usually start in June,” Dreier
said. “We’ll have some
berries to start, and all your
early spring veggies will be
there.”
The Monmouth Bounty
Market will again accept
Supplemental Nutrition As-
sistance Program (SNAP)
cards, as well as both debit
and credit cards. These cards
are swiped at the market in-
formation booth in ex-
change for tokens which
may be used at both the
Mo n m o u t h a n d Da l l a s
bounty markets.
“They (market tokens)
can be given as gifts, too,”
Dreier said. “We’ve had peo-
ple come purchase them for
employee appreciation or
birthdays. Instead of gift cer-
tificates, we have tokens.”
Special events will be
planned throughout the
summer, including a return
appearance by Reptile Man.
Dreier said the market is
still accepting vendors and is
seeking sponsors.
For more information:
bonnie@bountymarket.org.
For updates on market
events, find the market on
Facebook.
POLK COUNTY — High-
way 99’s intersection with
Clow Corner Road, always
a concern for its rate of
fatal and serious crashes,
may not see safety im-
provements for some time.
The Oregon Department
of Transportation recently
informed the county fund-
ing for the project may be
pulled due to budget con-
cerns.
The intersection was one
of six that ODOT included
in a 20-year plan for safety
fixes between Rickreall and
Monmouth.
Tim Potter, ODOT’s area
3 manager, sent a letter to
Polk County Public Works
Director Todd Whitaker
stating the preferred option,
an offset-T intersection,
would cost $2.9 million,
more than the project’s
$1.46 million in funding.
Potter said the plan in late
2014 was to use funding
from other canceled safety
projects to fill the gap.
That has since changed,
according to letter.
“Unfortunately at this
time all safety funds for the
current (funding) cycle have
been allocated to other
projects, and there are no
remaining funds available
for this project,” Potter
wrote. “As a result, I regret to
inform you that this project
will be canceled.”
An offset-T intersection
would move the eastern
portion of Clow Corner’s
junction with 99W away
from its current location,
creating two “Ts” instead of
one four-armed intersec-
tion.
Doing so prevents vehi-
cles from crossing all lanes
of traffic to continue on
Clow Corner and would
prevent some types of
crashes.
However, there’s still a
chance the intersection will
be included in the next
funding cycle, which will
begin later this year, Potter
said.
Originally, ODOT had
wanted to install a round-
about at the intersection,
but that idea lost traction
when county officials ob-
jected, saying the 55 mph
speed limit and large
amount of truck and farm
equipment traffic made
that option impractical.